Ticker Symbol Humor
Don’t you enjoy companies that have a great sense of humor? It speaks to their culture. Most of these are hard-charging, playing-to-win firms, but they still know that at the end of the day a little smile might go a long way.
Ticker symbols.What are they?
A ticker symbol is used to identify a company in the stock market with investors. Some are simple, like GM or GE. Guess what those stand for? Others are the first letter of the company, like C for Citigroup or F for Ford. Most are three or four letters. Stocks on the New York Stock Exchange will trade with three letters or less. While this isn’t always the case, you can safely bet that huge US firms like Disney (DIS) or Proctor & Gamble (PG) will trade on the NYSE. If a company has a four letter ticker symbol, like AAPL or MSFT, that will often point to NASDAQ-listed companies. These are also big companies. Sometimes you can figure out the name of the company by looking at the letters that identify them in the stock market:
What do you think CSCO is short for?
How about AMAT?
INTC?
Those are Cisco Systems, Applied Materials and Intel Corporation.
But those aren’t my favorite tickers in the stock market. I love it when companies flex their humor muscles.
Fun Ticker Symbols
The ticker symbol for Cedar Fair, the theme park owner whose crown jewel is Cedar Point, the park with the 3rd most roller coasters in the world?
Of course they trade under the ticker symbol FUN.
Do you know what the film character E.T. is short for? …probably on account of his stubby little legs. I’m here all week. Tip your waitstaff.
…and what about Harley Davidson? They used to trade as HDI, but during the 1990s swapped that boring ticker symbol for the appropriate HOG.
Southwest Airlines, always thinking outside of the conventional thought pattern, wants to emphasize that they love their passengers, so they trade under ticker LUV.
Auction house Sotheby’s trades as BID.
…when you think about Pizza Hut or KFC do you think “indigestion?” Investors think: YUM.
If you don’t want Pizza Hut, how about Papa Johns? That’d be found under ticker: PZZA.
Wash down your pizza and wings with some Canadian/Colorado beer. MolsonCoors trades as TAP.
It Doesn’t Stop With Stocks: Funny ETF Ticker Symbols
How about some exchange traded funds (ETFs)? These investments that cover a wider slice of the stock market can also be amusing.
I like the Powershares Dynamic Food and Beverage Index ticker: PBJ.
…or maybe the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy ETF. That one trades as: TAN.
Finally, when you think about the Van Eck Agribusiness ETF, of course you think: MOO.
Many ETF tickers give you clues about what they’re trading: CORN, KOL, WOOD and FAN are ETFs trading grains, fossil fuels, forestry and wind power respectively.
Investing is serious business, no doubt. But when companies get creative, it makes the serious task just a little more interesting.
Any I’ve forgotten? Add them in the comments!
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I always like the interesting ones like LUV but don’t really mess with stocks so I wasn’t familiar with the others. Glad to see some people still have a sense of humor.
Lance@MoneyLife&More recently posted..How Theme Parks and Movie Theaters “Price Gouge” for Food
Since I’m just starting to get into investing I had no idea about any of these. It is pretty creative and is a great way to do some extra marketing. Not only does it put certain messages in investors’ heads, but it also gets more people talking about them.
Jeremy @ Modest Money recently posted..Promoting Financial Affiliate Programs
This is proof that someone in upper management has a sense of humor. Can’t you imagine the board room meetings with stuffy old guys debating about if their shareholders will take them seriously…I wonder what other good ones were vetoed.
Brent Pittman recently posted..End of Summer State of the Blog Address + September Blog Goals
YUM and PZZA…you can’t make this stuff up.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..4 (Good) Reasons to go to Grad School
I was chuckling through this. I like the Tan one myself, though yum was a close 2nd!
Money Bulldog recently posted..Why I’d Consider A Sim Only Mobile Phone Contract
One of my favorite ticker symbols is Cake for Cheescake factory. How can you not instantly relate to the brand when you hear this symbol?
Shilpan recently posted..The Buy and Hold Strategy Can Kill Your Portfolio
CAKE! That’s awesome. I love it, too. Didn’t know that.
Would it be bad investment advice to pick stocks because you like their names? Kind of like picking horse for the name or picking NCAA teams for their mascots. YUM is funny. The Louisville Cardinals play in the YUM arena. I never could take them seriously.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..The Cost of Pet Ownership
Any idea why Altria is MO?
SB @ One Cent at a Time recently posted..7 Unconventional Ways To Save More For Roth IRA
I followed YUM for years because I have a friend who owns multiple KFC franchises. YUM seems so appropriate for food companies.
krantcents recently posted..Friday Night Links: Fraud Edition
I think my favorite is YUM brands, which you already mentioned.
As a long-time follower of various markets I was aware of some of these but there are definitely some new ones here.
FUN especially is a fantastic one! It makes such a difference to have a good symbol like that. As mentioned above YUM is a great one too that I’ve never forgotten and check often.
Garrett recently posted..Forex Trading Recap: 29 Aug 2012 +60 Pips
I think FUN is probably my favorite, too…although the CAKE one is pretty clever.
Here are some more – although the post was written in 2010 would be funny to see which of these are out of business:
http://www.myjourneytomillions.com/articles/funny-stock-symbols/
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